I’ve never touched the report button in my life, but recently a guy I know (who I’m not sure has a forums account) got his story banned after one person reported it. It was a horror story that was about as gorey as Shroud, which is not banned. It had a huge warning plastered at the beginning and everything, so there’s not a lot of reasons at all for it to get removed- but whatcha gonna do.
After it was reported once, the story was taken off the app without warning and the author was given a strike, so that got me thinking how hard is it to actually get someone’s story removed. Do the reads correlate with how easy it is to get it removed, sorta like a “the more money this story makes us, the less likely it is to get removed” kind of thing? Or does episode remove stories as soon as they get reported?

Ah, I saw that post on instagram as well. I do wish authors would be given notifications or notices that their story is ‘hidden’ until errors are fixed.

I remember seeing something how the banning system worked a really really long time ago, but I’m sure my information is outdated. Hopefully someone else knows more. . .

EDIT : I’d also like to add, Episode has removed one (or two?) VERY popular stories before. The Bet (god I hated how everyone was doing #BringBackTheBet or #IStandWithEpisode) the other wasn’t as big, but I can’t recall the name as it was during my Hiatus.

The only person I’ve ever reported was Noob Loop who isn’t fully banned (I wish she was). It took them two years to take the story down. The same story was posted on Wattpad and got her banned indefinitely which is something. It depends on how big you are if you’re a small writer and they see something they don’t like they won’t hesitate to ban you, but if you’re a big author like Noob Loop that has a lot of ads watched then no they won’t ban you.

Oh my god, I’ve never done a hiatus before but I haven’t looked at the featured stories in years. I already hate the hashtag #IStandWithEpisode and I’ve never even heard of it before lmao. Tell me what you remember about the banning system though!

There was another popular story called ‘Baddast’ that got banned not a long time ago. It had about 1 million reads and I read somewhere that the author was not notified about anything in advance either. I only read the first episode of it so I don’t know how it violated the guidelines, but although I agree smaller writers can be banned more easily, it happens to trending stories as well.
The only story I’ve reported so far was that racist one where all the humans where white and all the zombies were black. (Just why??) There was a thread about this with a lot of disgusted comments so I’m sure I’m not the only one who reported it. It has only a few reads but it’s still up, however someone said Episode made the author change the skintones in the meantime.

Yeah, I read the first chapter of the zombie story and they had changed the zombie skin tones to the beige green color.
What I want to know is why some stories are banned without notification, while others are notified and asked to fix the issues.

My story was also reported because I accidentally used a copyrighted name for one of the characters and a very nice story reviewer from Episode contacted me and walked me through the whole thing. I fixed it, she closed to review, everything was fine.
So I’d like to know what it is that gets a story straight up banned…

@Lizard I’m guessing you’re referring to my friend’s story which was recently removed from episode due to the contents that were featured in the story. To me, it seems like episode is more prone and subjected to banning authors whom they want to ban than opposed to those who they should ban from episode as a whole. For instance, the same contents that episode banned from my friend’s story for are the same exact same contents shared featured and even promoted in various other stories which are currently on the episode. If a person creates a horror story then it will be geared towards a more mature audience if the story features mature themes, gore, and violence. My problem is, episode has guidelines which are contradicting at times. It’s okay for them to feature or promote stories which contain mature themes, or certain content but they will ban other authors who may not have as many stories reads. So it seems hypocritical to ban certain authors if they’re also, featuring the same type of content in their own stories. Many of which are still trending on episode even as we speak. Also, there is a lack of stricter guidelines for underage children who read certain contents on episode which they have no business reading in the first place. Why has the mature audience suffer, and ban his, or her story from episode yet, you allow underage children to read contents they have no business reading in the first place? Episode needs to remember we aren’t all children or underage children who read and promote stories on the episode. Many of us are adults who read and publish stories so this also means, our stories will be geared towards a more “mature audience.” I feel like adult authors and the mature audience who write and publish stories on episode should be given a shelf which allows them to creatively express themselves without having their stories banned because underage children are reading contents they have no business reading. Last but not least, if episode wants to ban certain authors from having certain contents in his or her story, then they should also, stop promoting the same type of themes and contents in their own featured stories. P.S I’ve been encouraging my friend to keep writing so this is only a minor setback and my friend will come back fighting and stronger than they were than ever before. My friend is too talented to let anyone take away their passion to write.

It’s strange. I always thought that stories would get suspended and a warning first, before being banned completely.
I know there have been a couple times where stories have been banned outright, but that’s usually because they contain a lot of sex scenes or they’re plagiarised.
I think I know which story you’re talking about. I didn’t read it but I saw a lot of screenshots and honestly, I was going to contact the people posting them to suggest that they take those screenshots down (Edit: NOT because they upset me, but because I could foresee this situation occurring and NOT all the screenshots, just one in particular which appeared to violate a guideline). The images I saw were against the guidelines and I could see the story getting suspended if Episode saw it. I really didn’t think they’d ban the story instantly, though. It looked easily fixable.

I understand immediately banning a plagiarised story, but I don’t understand immediately banning a story like the one I’m thinking of. Like I said, I didn’t read it, but from what I saw the scenes that broke the guidelines could easily have been amended quickly.

Lizard:

Do the reads correlate with how easy it is to get it removed, sorta like a “the more money this story makes us, the less likely it is to get removed” kind of thing? Or does episode remove stories as soon as they get reported?

I really don’t know, but there have been some very popular stories banned in the last few months (with 1 million+ reads).

@EliseC Girl let’s talk! So are you insinuating that my friend’s story went against the community guidelines and that you could see the story getting taken down? Who were you going to ask to take the screenshots down when those who had the screenshots loved the story and the way it was thoroughly written? Also, so many other horror stories are featured on episode which contains far worse things so where is your concern about these other stories which constantly violate the rules yet, they’re still trending and featured on episode? While we are on that topic, many other horror stories contain gore, violence, and mature content but you seem to express a lack of concern about all the others. How did my friend break the rules when these same type of contents are featured in other stories on episode yet, they’re still viewable and trending? My friend worked their butt off to publish their story and if you and others are so concerned about my friend’s story then you should also be concerned about those trending stories which violate the community rules yet, are always trending constantly on the episode. My friend didn’t even receive a warning or anything they just had their story banned from episode which was very disrespectful to my friend who has put in a lot of time and dedication into writing and publishing their story. Furthermore, it’s inane to suspend or banish someone for things such as that when episode promotes and features the same type of contents in their own stories.

I will DM you as I might be thinking of the wrong story. But what I saw broke the guidelines. I’m not saying that there aren’t plenty of other stories on the app that do as well, but unfortunately there were screenshots of something which directly violated the guildelines and that may have prompted people to report it (or someone from Episode may even have seen it).
But I don’t disagree that he/she should have received a warning (if we’re thinking of the right story). I don’t think what they did was fair. I never said I disagreed with you, I just honestly could see it being suspended.

My friend worked their butt off to publish their story and if you and others are so concerned about my friend’s story then you should also be concerned about those trending stories which violate the community rules yet,

For the record- I never reported the story, nor did I think it should be taken down. I just saw something that I believed violated the guildelines (one particular screenshot- I’m not saying that these people shouldn’t have shared screenshots about a story that they love). I never said anything about it, but I was going to warn the people I knew who were sharing screenshots.

While we are on that topic, many other horror stories contain gore, violence, and mature content but you seem to express a lack of concern about all the others.

You completely misunderstand me here. I have nothing against your friend’s story. I didn’t report it and I don’t tend to report stories in general. I just saw one scene that I could see the story being suspended over (if we’re thinking of the same one). This is just based on stories that I know have been suspended in the past for similar things. That’s all! Nothing against your friend and I really don’t think the story should have been taken down.

@EliseC I never said you did but again, I really robustly believe that my friend deserved to have their story published on episode. What was done to my friend was wrong! A dismemberment body is nothing compared to the more inappropriate and racist things I saw published in trending stories on episode yet, these stories aren’t even taken down many of them are still trending on the episode with thousands of story reads and others millions. Many of these authors even received warnings so they could change things around so that they were still viewable to the public eye. Others don’t even know my friends intentions when narrating the story the way they did. Also, it’s a horror story which will be geared towards a more mature audience. My friend is 18 not 12 or 13 years of age. My friend shouldn’t have to dumb down their story because of someone underage child is reading contents they have no business reading in the first place. I just feel like episode creates certain guidelines which they themselves hardly even follow. There are strict guidelines for the mature authors but what about the underage children on episode? Shouldn’t they be made to follow guidelines as well? This is just my overall perspective. I’m just a little frustrated because my friend really is a good author who didn’t deserve the type of treatment they received. My thing is don’t ban my friend’s story without warning them and don’t punish my friend when you know others are 18 and over who promote and self-publish stories on episode when you have the same mature themes featured in your own stories which you also prompt on episode. Majority of times horror stories written by the mature authors are geared towards a mature audience, not underage children on episode.

We’re going a little off topic since this was a general discussion.
I don’t think what they did was fair. She/he should have gotten a warning.
I’m going to leave it at that (I did DM you so feel free to reply and vent if you’d like ahha).

I would like to know how Episode determine when to ban a story outright and when to send a warning. What is deemed a bad enough violation of the guidelines to take down a story immediately?

I mentioned what I said due to your response in regards to what you said about my friend’s story getting taken down. So I am very much aware of the topic and what was said including why I said what I said to you as well. It was in response to what you said. You mentioned you could see the story getting suspended and that you wanted to tell others to take the screenshots down. You also, mentioned that you didn’t get a chance to read the story. It was a really good horror story. Others were sending screenshots because the story was well written. The only reason this whole topic about the rules and guidelines even came up was because of my friend’s story recently getting banned from episode.

You mentioned you could see the story getting suspended and that you wanted to tell others to take the screenshots down. Y

Only because I was concerned that this very thing would happen (and I was concerned for the author). Not because it upset or offended me.
Just clarifying.
(Edit: I was going to delete my comments but then I realised that half this thread wouldn’t make sense and it could make it look like I said a lot of negative things against the story in question so I guess I’ll leave them up )

You’re free to voice your opinion just like anyone else. I was just a little thrown back by what you said but you also gave me clarity so, in a way, I understand your perspective so no need to delete your comments. I’m pretty sure others will be able to see this from both perspectives then opposed to just one.

I don’t know if you guys may recognize the story I’m talking about but the story was called Pregnant & Poor or so (by Horlane Gadie sorry if I misspelled the name) , I kinda loved the story and fully read it. I believe it was banned because of sex scenes even though I don’t think those scenes were extreme I mean almost all popular stories contain that kind of scenes such Chain Reaction, now that story had tons of scenes with naked characters however it is still up and hasn’t been affected.